From Publishers Weekly
Thirteen-year-old Jenny Newhall is a normal adolescent: bright, big-hearted and snappish to her adoptive mother. Jenny's birth mother, teenager Linda Emery, hid her pregnancy and disappeared from her home in Massachusetts, leaving grieving relatives to assume she had been killed. Now, when Linda shows up unannounced on the Newhall's doorstep on Mother's Day, skeletons clatter from closets all over town, and soon Linda's bloodied body turns up in a dumpster. Suspicion points to Jenny's adoptive father, Greg, who evades arrest and goes underground, trying to unravel clues that could make his family whole again. The police investigation headed by laconic loner Walter Ference exposes infidelity, sexual extortion and the key to an earlier murder. MacDonald, an Edgar award nominee for The Unforgiven , digs with relish...

Book Description
Focuses on British fantasy, but also discusses Australian and New Zealand fantasy, which show the influence of British fantasy. Over two hundred works are included; bibliography and indexes.

About the Author
Karen Patricia Smith is Assistant Professor, Queens College GSLIS, Flushing, NY. Her articles and essays have appeared in many journals, including "Children's Literature Association Quarterly, Wilson Library Journal, School Library Journal, Journal of Youth Services in Libraries," and "Library Trends", and she has published chapters in two previous Scarecrow Press books, "Library Education and Leadership: Essays in Honor of Jane Anne Hannigan," ed. Sheila S. Intner and Kay E. Vandergraft (1990) and "Library Lit. 20--The Best of 1989," ed. Jane Anne Hannigan (1990).

Book Description
Twayne's United States Authors Series presents concise critical introductions to great writers and their works. Devoted to critical interpretation and discussion of an author's work, each study takes account of major literary trends and important scholarly contributions and provides new critical insights with an original point of view. An Authors Series volume addresses readers ranging from advanced high school students to university professors. The book suggests to the informed reader new ways of considering a writer's work. A reader new to the work under examination will, after reading the Authors Series, be compelled to turn to the originals, bringing to the reading a basic knowledge and fresh critical perspectives. Each volume features: A critical, interpretive study and explication of the author's works A...